[Movie Review] Gravity!

The last time I saw a rating of over 8 in IMDB (of a film that’s just been released) I ended up watching “The Hunger Games” and ‘disappointment’ is an understatement. The review for the movie “Gravity” was equally as good as “The Hunger Games” and IMDB once again showed a rating of over 8. After much consideration, with me still being felt a déjà vu – my roommate was pestering me to accompany him to Gravity. So we decided to watch it last Friday, at ESCAPE, ATMOS 3D. I have got to tell you, if you’d have seen my face while I was watching the movie, you’d have laughed your guts out. Most of the time, I was like ‘aaah’ and sometimes a shock in my face with the 3D effect. I have decided that I will not tell you anything about the movie, so this is a spoiler free review.

Well, if we’re not going to talk about the movie, let’s talk about the stars. It’s good to see Sandra Bullock back in the screen after almost a couple of decades (last time I saw a Sandra Bullock movie – it was Speed). She has done her part perfect; I especially liked her most in the climax. What else can we talk about? Well let’s see… Visual Effects. Man. One helluva visual effects that takes your breath away. I have to stress this once again – people who feel they don’t understand English movies – you should also watch this movie. Because, the dialogues are not very much important in this movie. Just buy yourself a 3D ticket (preferably in Satyam ATMOS screens) and just concentrate on the movie, not the dialogue [Don't take this as how Vivek says to Vikram in the Tamil movie Dhool]. I’m sure you’ll enjoy. During the first 15 minutes of the movie - watchout, or you may have your head spinning! There’s one last thing I want to talk about is the 3D effect. I’ve seen quite some movies in 3D. The thing about 3D is that, you’ll feel the effect as soon as the movie begins, but soon when you start to concentrate on the movie, you’ll forget that you’re watching a 3D film. But this one is outstanding. You will be constantly remembered that you are watching this film via 3D and it’ll make a certain impact. Don’t forget to watch the very last scene of the movie with your 3D glasses still on, it was mind blowing!

People who have watched the movie – I have a question for you. Why does ‘it’ come back after 90 minutes?  [If you know what I mean]

[The White Knight] - 2 - Clean Khaki

Intro on The White Knight is here. |    The White Knight    | Episode 1 is here.

Disclaimer: While the technology described in the story may come true, chances are they are my wild imagination and creativity. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Episode 2: Clean Khaki

“Sir, the items that you ordered online are here.”

“Thank you Mani. You can leave now.”

As Mani started leaving the room, Raji entered.

“What are all these new toys doing here? No doubt for your next vigilante program?”

“You said it!”

—— 00000 ——

Thiru, The commissioner of police of the Chennai city was furious. He was one of the good police men, yet the fact that one man has left the entire Tamil Nadu become chaos in one day made him angry. While he tries to believe that the White Knight is trying to do something for a better future, his interference with the law has gotten into his temper. He was personally amazed by the thought of how the head lights still burst out after 2 days of the initial chaos, but he still believed that it was the last of what he calls a ‘stunt’ that the so called White Knight will make! He has had an earful during the urgent meeting scheduled by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu a couple of days before. The statement that he made before the chaos begun, had came back to haunt him. The CM has ordered an elite team to grab the White Knight at any given first chance. He was part of that team too. Earlier that day, he went on to read the-white-knight.com for his next move. There wasn’t anything on it other than a few movie super hero posters, but he’s been involving the best hackers around India to crack into the website and isolate the man. He has had no luck so far. “Come on, guys – give me a bone here” he said to himself.

A whole week was gone and there was nothing the hackers could do to triangulate the so-called-super-hero. The update on the-white-knight.com earlier that day added fuel to the raging fire. When Thiru opened the page, he read the only line in between the super hero images.

“Corrupt Cops – Beware”

He immediately called for a meeting with the fellow police officers.

—— 00000 ——

The next morning, when Thiru woke up, he found a flash drive sitting beside his spectacles. Puzzled, he powered on his ‘Compaq’ and it took about 10 minutes to load his personal settings. He plugged in the flash drive and it had a lot of photos. A glance on the thumbnails gave him a good idea – those were the images of his fellow colleagues doing things that they’re supposed to catch people do. There was an odd-one-out – a Read Me.jpg. He opened the image and read out loud.

“I’m giving you one day to take action against these cops. Failing to do so, I’ll have to take matter into my own hands. Trust me, you’ll not like it!”

He immediately went to the website. The-white-knight.com was updated and Thiru didn’t like a bit of it. The update said “Corrupt Police list has been handed over to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai City. Will the police take action against the police? They have 24 hours.” A timer was running, showing less than 23 hours remaining. His head started to take a spin.

—— 00000 ——

Assistant commissioner Marimuthu surprised Thiru with an early morning salute.

“ACP Marimuthu – what are you doing here so early?”

“Sir, I saw the website – I wanted to know if my name or my cousin’s name is on the list.”

Thiru was taken aback! He managed to hide his surprise and asked him “Why, did you do something that you are not supposed to do?”

“Sir –”

“No need for an explanation, ACP. You can go – I’ll decide with the CM on what to do with the list. I’m sure whether or not your name is on the list you’ll know it by tomorrow at the max.”

“But, Sir –”

“That’s an order!”

ACP produced a flashing salute and left the place half hearted.

By now Thiru realized that atleast half of the city police will want to know if their name is on the list or not. He decided not to waste a single moment and took a drive to the CM’s house himself. He was infact, afraid that his driver might want to know if his name was on the list! There were about 30 calls on his mobile during the 25 minutes journey from his house to the CMs. Only one was from the CM and he missed the others.

—— 00000 ——

The finger print search on the flash drive came up empty. CM was in a dilemma whether to suspend all the 341 cops in the photo or not and a team was identifying them from the photo. Time was tickling away and the media was already on it.

“We are standing here at the corner of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu’s home. It’s been crazy up here. Apparently, the white knight has collected a list of corrupt cops and sent it to the commissioner of police, Chennai city. We see that the commissioner is inside the CM’s house having a discussion. They have 24 hours time to take action against the listed people. It’s been over 4 hours now, and we are yet to see any results. We are trying our best to talk to one of the spokes person from the Chief Minister’s house. Stay tuned for more updates. This is Sachin with camera man Sourav, reporting for India-News.”

A set of lawyers came rushing from the CM’s house and they said “No Comments” even before a question was asked. The place was chaos.

—— 00000 ——

Inside almost all of the police stations in Chennai city, a group of cops had gathered and were watching the televisions’ live update.

“Do you think that b*****d would have captured me when I was getting the money?” “I think that stupid software guy who I locked for two days is coming back to haunt me!” “You know, I once hit a photographer for not having money. I think it’s him. My name would sure be on the list. I’m doomed!” “I never saw any flash lights or anyone infact, watching me when I got that money from that rowdy. My name would not be on the list for sure.” “Whoever he is, if my name is on that list, I will hunt him and I will kill him.”

—— 00000 ——

After about 16 hours, as if waiting for a verdict on a murder case – the result was out. Thiru personally appeared on the television and delivered the news. Camera flashes were flickering for any given second.

“I received a set of photos from the White Knight this morning which had a few police officers committing a crime. The scrutiny of the photos we received is being examined and at this point we cannot come to any conclusion on whether or not these people have infact, committed a crime as the photos claim. We do take this as a serious concern and we will take severe action against the people who are in the photo, if proven to be guilty. While we analyze the facts, we request people and fellow police officers to remain calm. The photos will not be disclosed to public and protection will be given to the people in the pictures as the white knight has threatened them. The White Knight’s action is still considered to be offensive and unlawful. He or She will be punished when captured for all the crime committed.”

Watching the news, Ram said “As expected.”

“What are you going to do to them?” asked Raji.

“Wait and see tomorrow. After all, the 24 hours is not yet finished.”

—— 00000 ——

It was dawn. The media and some interested people had been waiting for the-white-knight.com to be updated. Thiru was one of them. At 5 in the morning, when then timer reached 00:00:00, it was updated.

“Time’s up. As expected, the police consider the given evidence as not-enough to proceed. I have decided to act. Consider this as a warning, for the punishment would not be severe for your ignorance of my power. For all the corrupt cops – ‘You are being watched’. I don’t want the list to be increased by the end of the day. The list will be punished within the span of 24 hours. Watch out.”

—— 00000 ——

One of the corrupted cops was in a deep sleep when that happened. He heard a loud sound and woke up with heavy breathings. He saw his family was also disturbed by that sound and he asked them to stay inside the house and went on to open the door of his house. What he saw was unbelievable. His brand new 72,000 rupees Bajaj Pulsar had a hole in the side of the petrol tank and the petrol was rushing outside, making a small river towards his gate. While he watched that in horror, a beggar, who made a fire to escape the early morning chills because of last night’s rain, was just leaving. A still burning paper from the fire went flying like in the Final Destination movie and landed at the banks of the newly formed river. The police officer’s family, whose sleep was disturbed by the first sound, heard another sound – the sound of 72,000 rupees burning.

—— 00000 ——

The whole city was peaceful except for the corrupt officers’ mind. The media went on to report none of the incidents happened as The White Knight threatened and people spent a peaceful day except for a few accidents.

—— 00000 ——

Another corrupt officer, who had been afraid to go out of the house that whole day, waited for a miracle to save his precious RX100 after he heard what had happened to the nearby police officer Sivamani’s Pulsar. It was almost 7 in the night and he needed a break. He went inside and switched on his hall lights. With a flash, his house electricity short circuited and the burnt smell of his Whirlpool refrigerator made him realize that he’d been punished.

—— 00000 ——

At 9:30 in the night, the-white-knight.com was updated.

“The list had been punished – ofcourse, it wasn’t serious. Now they know the power of me and I strongly suggest them passing the information to their fellow cops for what awaits them next, if they were to go on a different path. To the media, I know you didn’t get what you wanted. But, I wanted this just to be a warning, so the punishment was discreet. Next time when they dare try again, I’ll be sure to let you know the evidence and their punishment. For now, this photo of the burning Pulsar is evidence that one of the corrupt cops had been punished.”

And it showed the lone Sivamani’s Pulsar on fire. Thiru was reading the update and he knew a few of the cops who were on the list were punished. He recollected ACP Marimuthu being on the list, and wasn’t sure if he was punished. Curious, he placed a call to him and almost thought he’d not answer, after 11th ring, he answered.

“Hello”

“ACP, I know you were on the list. Were you punished by The White Knight? Would you like to make a formal compliant?”

“No sir, I was not punished. I think you overlooked!” he said, looking at the engine burst Scorpio.

—— 00000 ——

“How did you punish them?” asked Raji.

“I damaged one of their properties.”

“First, tell me how did you take pictures of them?”

“If I tell you, you’ll be an accomplice to my crime.”

“I am an accomplice. Now, tell me!”

“Remember the toys?”

“What, those cameras you bought online?”

“Yep, I placed them discreetly at places where I thought crimes would happen, including the police stations, using the help of a couple of drones.”

“Drones? I never saw a drone in that list of toys!”

“I made that personally a month back. During this one week, I’ve been moving that drone from place to place planting the hidden cameras. I even have one in the commissioner’s office.”

“I’ll be damned! So, how did you isolate the corrupt people within a day and damaged their property?”

“Well, I didn’t. During this one week, I’d seen a list of people who couldn’t keep their hands clean at all. So, I started making a note of them and planted a surprise for them on the 4th day. After my announcement, about 100 people kept their hands clean, so they were sparred. The other 341 received the surprise.”

“So, everything went according to the plan?”

“Not really. One of the corrupted cops – Sivamani his name, was on my list. My thought was to make a hole in his petrol tank using one of my drones, but things went south when a beggar started a fire nearby. Sivamani was standing somewhat near the bike when the explosion happened. It was unexpected, but the good thing is he got out alive with a few burns.”

“What? You nearly killed a cop?”

“Raji, I know the risk. Sometime fate intervenes. It wasn’t my intention that he get what he got.”

“You need to be more careful with your planning.”

“I will from now on, ma’am. I could use an extra hand though!” he said.

“Alright, since you begged for it, I’ll join” she said with a naughty smile on her face.

—To be Continued.

Tutors World Wide India Limited - A Tribute...

October 4. It was a Monday, one of the memorable days in my life. It is the birthday of one of my best buddy from back home – but that’s not why it is memorable. It’s definitely not my birthday – those who’re close to me would know that. Then, why is that day special? It’s a special day because it’s the day I started my professional journey. It is that date that earned me a set of friends who I’d never forget in my life. It is on that date, I transformed from a ‘college boy’ to a ‘man’. It’s that date I joined a company called “Tutors World Wide India (P) Limited”.

To tell you about the company, well it’s been closed for some time now – I think it was on Feb 2009 when the operations shut down. Makes me sad, when I type this – I always wanted to see that company produce more and more professional people – the way it made me. Everyone would love their first company – I was no exception in it. Be it the night shifts, be it the English training session, and be it the “Typing” lessons. I loved each and every one of the lessons they taught me. Situated at the main area – opposite to the “All Sec” call center at Velachery was our TWWI, we call it short for the Tutors World Wide India Ltd. Every time when I cross Velachery, I can’t help but notice the SRS Arcade. That SRS Arcade once was like a home to me – what I see there now is the “State Bank of India”.

We were called the ‘Batch 4’, a set of enthusiastic 25 odd people from different part of the cities in Tamil Nadu. We literally were the 4^th batch to be employed in that company – there were about 50 people working in the company when I joined. Right from the beginning, I had some kind of an attraction towards this company. I don’t know if it was because the way “Sivasankaran” or “Siva PSG”, an assistant manager at that time, who answered the phone and talked to me very nicely when I first called the company regarding the joining formalities. I don’t know if it was “Sridhar KS” – a manager and a man who almost always had an answer to any question – who almost always says “Excellent” when you answer him. I don’t know if it was the “Sucharita ma’am”, the CEO of that company at that time – who encouraged me to pursue my higher education during the day time. I don’t know how often you get a chance to talk to a CEO of a company that you just joined!

I still remember the way we hustle when a student had joined. I do remember the bashings you get when your session has been one of the worst. The appreciations you get when your student gives you a compliment and the satisfaction you get when you taught a student something new are some feelings, that’ll be hardly forgettable. While the mock sessions and the tests gets your pulse quicken, the music on almost every bay relaxes you. You’ll get the felling you’re not working in an office, but you’re along with your family! Inspirations were all around – be it my first mentor “Krithika” [I still remember the way she talk – the way she often use the word ‘nahi’], followed by “Sundar”, the infamous “Seval Pannai” team lead by “Thala aka Saravana” and last but not least, my TAG [Tutoring Administration Group] team lead “Srini” [who I humbly call ‘Ji’]. Every one of them had a passion to work and a passion to teach. Outside my team, I could point “Gyani”, “Alfred”, “Elango Kallanai” "Vishnu Senior" and many such others, who I’d have forgotten over the time period.

Almost all of the ‘Batch 4’ members were recognized for their talents – I became the Team Lead of a 10 member TAG team. Satish Narayan went on to become the lead for the “Image” team. Shanmugam became the important person for the “Content Development”. “Stat Karthi” or “Karthick Subramaniam” went onto became the lead for the “Statistics” team and all this happened within a span of two years. I still am proud for getting the “Outstanding” rating during one of the appraisals. Beyond work, we became thick friends – from staying in one room to watching almost all the movies together. I still remember my first ever movie at Chennai – with my buddies, we went to the infamous Udhayam theatre for the movie “7G Rainbow Colony”. The last time we were in Chennai & working for TWWI, we watched “Vettayadu Vilayadu” at Mayajal.

When I pause and look back after 9 long years, I see almost all of the people who I remember from TWWI are successful today. Well, as for me – I’m working in a software company – same goes to Satish and Somesh. Stat Karthi went on to become a statistician on Ford. Sivasankaran is a HR in one of the companies. Shiva Kumar, mentor for Satish is living in UAE and so on and so forth. That great was that company! It taught you so many stuffs that you’ll survive any where.

To write about the company TWWI or the work culture there or about the people who inspired me there would take atleast 10 pages for me. Please don’t mistake me if I missed any one of the legends from TWWI – it’s just that my memory is becoming weak.I just wanted to re-live the memory of the days I spent with that wonderful company – and the mission is accomplished!

[The White Knight] - 1 - The Light Effect

Introduction to The White Knight is Here. Read this before you continue the story.

Disclaimer: While the technology described in the story can come true, chances are they are my wild imaginations and creativity. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Episode: 1 - The Light Effect

His wife didn’t know about this. She’d have stopped him if she’d known what he’s about to do. But, it was too late. She is the only person in the world who knew he is the only person in the world who could do it. And he did it!

—— 00000 ——

The indiannews.com website didn’t know they were being hacked. He did so in a prime-time and displayed his message which couldn’t be taken off the website for atleast a day. He had hacked into the news website’s database server and hard programmed the news on the database like it’s a notice from the press to the public and its backup DB too. He took a deep breath and published the news. He said to himself, “One down”.

This is what he posted on it (Click on the image to get a better view):

The news went viral. The indiannews.com didn’t know that this had been published on its entire Tamil Nadu version. People started calling the company and asked who the White Knight is. They had no clue. Chennai commissioner went on to make a public statement that the news company didn’t know about this and people don’t need to worry about it. He said that it’s just a stupid computer genius who’ll get caught very soon for the nuisance that he created.

—— 00000 ——

She walked into his room. He was alone and having his regular JD, watching the commissioner’s statement on the news. She walked over to him with the breakfast she prepared and set aside.

“It’s too early for a JD.” He didn't respond.

“So, why’d you do it?”

“You know why” he said.

“I know why, but why now?”

“Someone has to do it. I can and I’m going to. World has to change. And I’ve decided to change it. I don’t want people to go through what I’m going through.”

“So, you’re going to be a vigilante?”

He let out a dry smile on that comment and clicked on a switch. The entire library that was before them started moving aside and a rack full of computer monitors started moving towards them. One keyboard popped up in front of him and he started typing codes.

—— 00000 ——

Inside one of the biggest MNC, its employees were busy discussing the possibility of detecting high beams. “You think this white knight could really stop people using the high beams?” “Kill a high beam? This guy’s an idiot!” “I don’t think this maniac has any rights to do whatever he’s up to” “People do use high beams these days – I almost hit a two wheeler a couple of days before because one idiot came flashing up towards me!” “He doesn’t have any rights to do anything to our cars. It’s my car and I use it the way I like it” “I don’t think anything’s happening tonight – watch my words, he’s lucky he got that news published!” “White Knight? Hahaha. I think this guy had way too much to drink last night!”

—— 00000 ——

Sun was all set to go to sleep after a tiring day of smoking things up. The news created a big impact, one passed it to other and almost the entire Tamil Nadu knew that something does gonna happen tonight. Or probably, nothing but a hoax! They were about to find out as it was almost time to switch on their lights. Almost all the news channels made sure they covered the city traffic during the night time and some even started running live coverage. “I’m standing here at one of the high traffic area here in Chennai – Old Mahaballipuram Road. The morning news from The White Knight had claimed that people who use high beam has to watch out tonight. We will see if this white Knight will really do something about it in a short while. This is Priya Malhotra reporting from OMR, Chennai for indianews”

People started rushing towards home with their four wheelers after a hectic day at work. After all, who has a good day at work? Time to put their lights on. The news did make the impact on people – most of them were running with their lights on the road. The live coverage said there’s nothing happening tonight so far, people are going home with their normal lights and seemed to stop using high beam. And then it happened. One of the non-believer, started his car and switched his high beam, and entered into the traffic. He smiled to himself – “White Knight – a drunken idiot!” and increased his speed on the traffic. He heard a bursting sound – the sound of his head light dying. Smoke was coming out of his car’s head lights. At the same time, he heard the same sound around him and realized that he’s driving only with the help of the street lights. Panicked, he switched on his left indicator and pulled over aside to see smoke coming out of his car’s head lights. And then, like a magic, when he saw the traffic, he noticed, one by one, the head lights of the cars that have their high beam on, started bursting up like a cracker. “Damn you White Knight!”

The live coverage went on to report the incidents. “We are bringing you the live coverage from the Mount Road where you can see a lot of cars are pulling over. Apparently, their head lights have been burst out after they switched on their high beam. Looks like the White Knight has made something that is making the car’s high beam lights go burst like a cracker. People who use the normal lights don’t have any impact by this and are driving safely. We advice people not to use the high beam inside the city for your own safety.”
The coverage from another news channel showed some accidents because of the light bursts. It was chaos all around the city that night. At 9, a channel summarized the incidents happened on that night. About 30% of the vehicles were in the service center for a new head light and most of them were IT company buses that had about 6 lights on a side.

—— 00000 ——

“Stop this” she said after bursting into his room.

He gave her a look and then started typing more codes.

“I said stop it Ram. You better watch the news – it’s chaos out there and there had been accidents because of what you did”

He stopped typing for a moment as if he heard what she said and then started typing codes again.

“Are you hearing me?” she started coming forward as if she’s going to pull the keyboard from him.

“I can hear you alright. Do you think I didn’t know accidents would happen when I planned this?” he was still typing.

“Then why the hell are you doing this? People might die, Ram!”

“Then it’s the price that I’m willing to pay for no such future incidents”

“No Ram. This is not you. You’ve taken junior’s accident seriously. You couldn’t have done anything to stop it. It’s not your fault!” She realized it too late.

He stopped typing. A tear rolled down his cheek. There was a long silence. “I could have Raji. I could have. I don’t want any more accidents happen because of a high beam and I don’t want any father losing his only son. This is for a greater good and a brighter future.”

She walked over to him and gave him a hug. “I know Ram. I know what you’re trying to do. I just don’t like the way you do it” tears came down from her eyes too.

There was a long silence once again and then he moved her aside and started typing more codes. She knew that nothing she could do to stop him. It’s that attitude that attracted her to him.

“So, how did you do it?” she asked looking over the codes.

“Are you interested in my vigilante program?” he said with a little smile.

“May be. How do bursting head lights work?”

“Through the cell phone towers. I’ve hacked into almost all the cell phone service providers and use their signal to detect for a high beam. Once the source is identified, I use the internet to locate the car key’s resistor and using the circuit, I kill the bulbs of the source by sending 75% of the car’s battery life into it. Using the maps, I’ve programmed it to work inside the city, so the highway high beamers won’t be affected.”

“Hmmm. Interesting”

“Is that compliment?”

“You could say so. A vigilante not only kill peoples’ head lights – what else have you planned for?”

“Oh, this is just a beginning. A personal satisfaction, I would say. There’s lot more to come!” he said with a smile on his face.

“What are you doing now?”

“Sending out the news that The White Knight will continue to serve!”

She looked up at the screen and a news paper column showed the message (Click on the image to get a better view).

–To be continued.

Newspaper image courtesy: fodey.com

The White Knight - An Intro...

He was a glorified software engineer. Anything anyone asks him for, he’ll get it done – the maximum time he has taken to do so is 1 day. He had never switched company because, the company that he worked for made sure to raise his salary twice in a year – an exception that’s not even made for the CEO of that company. He infact negotiate/withdraw salary in US $s while working in India. He had everything he needed for his life – a good job, a loving and caring wife, good money (ofcourse!) and the blessings of his parents. He had been earning in $s for the last 10 years and there’s a talk going on that he’d soon be the richest man in India. He had multiple houses in and around most of the cities in Tamil Nadu, almost all the states in India and even a couple in the US of America. God is not the type who’d give only happiness to his fellow disciples, is he? He had issues too and the major one being his only son died in a terrible accident. With the wealth he had, he could have sued the lorry driver who hit his car and taking away his only child. The case was closed as an accident and the driver’s license was ‘punched’ once and he paid for the bail and walked away. After that night, he resigned his job and settled in the almost-farthest-end-of-India – a remote village near Kanyakumari. Six months passed and the world thought the emerging wealthy had lost his mind after his only son’s departure and very soon, forgot about him. Little do they know on what he was doing in that remote village or what comes the following day.

—— 00000 ——

Say hello to my “White Knight”, my first attempt at creating a ‘series’. This is a super hero story, inspired by many, many such movies that I watched. I’m naming it “A White Knight”, after my favorite “Dark Knight” and a recent photo shared at Facebook (below). I’ll try and create each and every part as one episode – i.e., one story per episode, so people who miss one could still follow the next. This is not going to be a mega-series with lots of episodes. The frequency of the episodes depends solely upon my availability, so please don’t be disappointed (!) if I don’t write often. First part would be published shortly. As always, your feedback’s important! Please do leave them on the comments section!

Image Courtesy: Facebook